Sebastian Samuelsson had a prolonged cold during the Christmas break and his form was therefore a question mark before the restart of the World Cup. The skating was not at its best, and when Samuelsson also missed both the first and last shot of the day, all hope of an advanced placement disappeared.
Martin Ponsiluoma shot even worse – three misses – but was faster on his skis and beat Samuelsson by just over ten seconds.
When the two biggest stars didn’t really deliver, Jesper Nelin was the best of the six Swedes. Nelin fired hard, but lost a lot of time during the final lap and was not enough to take a place in the top ten.
World Cup leader Johannes Thingnes Bø made a brutally strong race and leads the finish despite a barrier, a full 48.1 seconds ahead of big brother Tarjei Bø.
The competition in Pokljuka is still ongoing.